[Yang Nak-gyu's Defense video] Super Hornet on Aircraft Carrier to Penetrate North Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] In 2017, when North Korea continued its military provocations, the United States Forces Korea Command revealed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), participating in the joint US-ROK Eagle exercises in the East Sea, to domestic and international media. The Carl Vinson is also famous for being the last to handle the body of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by the US Navy special forces 'Navy SEALs' in 2011. At that time, the Navy SEALs killed bin Laden at his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and his body was transferred via the Bagram US military base in Afghanistan to the Carl Vinson, where it was buried at sea in the Arabian Sea.

What attracted the attention of domestic media at the time was the US Navy's multi-purpose fighter jet, the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Its full-throttle sprint and ascent into the sky resembled an eagle launching itself off the ground.

The flight deck was still filled with the acrid smell of exhaust from the aircraft engines, and white steam rose from the spots where the jets had raced, even in the falling raindrops. The Super Hornets were taking off one after another at intervals of a few minutes. The Super Hornet can reach a maximum speed of Mach 1.7 and is capable of carrying a large number of precision-guided bombs, including Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), allowing it to strike enemy key facilities with precision.

On a ground airbase runway, a fighter jet usually needs to sprint 300 to 400 meters to take off, but on the Carl Vinson, the 'catapult' device, which uses reactor steam to launch the aircraft upwards, allows takeoff after running only about one-third of that distance.

When the Super Hornet returns after completing its mission, the thick steel cables called 'arresting wires' installed on the flight deck shorten the landing distance. The arresting wires, about the thickness of a human forearm, catch the landing Super Hornet and act as brakes by pulling it back with force. While a fighter jet landing on a ground airbase usually runs about 2 kilometers before stopping, the Super Hornet on the Carl Vinson’s deck stops after running only about 100 meters thanks to the arresting wires. The pulling force of the arresting wires is so strong that the crew inside the fighter jet must endure their entire body being thrown forward momentarily.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.